Express & Star

Carlos Corberan details West Brom owner 'respect' and outlines Albion dream

Carlos Corberan has hailed West Brom owner Shilen Patel and Andrew Nestor for their 'respect' shown to West Brom since arriving at the club.

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Patel purchased a majority stake in Albion earlier this year - and endeared himself to the supporters for turning around the club off the field.

The US businessman has already settled loans taken out under previous owner Gouchoun Lai, invested in Albion's training ground and helped to turn around Corberan's squad.

Nestor has also taken on the responsibilities of a sporting director, and speaking ahead of his two year anniversary at Albion, Corberan has praised the pair for listening and complimenting what was already at the club, with their own ideas.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM for a special programme on his two year anniversary, Corberan said: “First of all, I need to give a lot of credit to Shilen and Andrew for the level of respect they showed for these amazing West Bromwich Albion people. Because probably, another owner come, they buy the club, they don’t care for the people in the club and they just put their people in and make it their job.

“The first thing that they did was listen to everyone, understand them, analyse their job, and respect them. So, the strength of this club is that to the amazing people I was talking about, they have added themselves. So, they have respect and they have added their level of ideas, football knowledge and organisation ideas.

"Andrew and Shilen, they have said ‘this is good, let’s complement this idea with our ideas’, so that is why for me, this club has grown, even still with financial restrictions, the club for me is growing in a good direction.

“We haven’t seen yet everything that Shilen wants to do in this club. Because he has had restrictions and a short space of time but if I am a fan, I would be excited about the things he has in mind for West Bromwich Albion Football Club."

In the wide ranging interview, Corberan discussed his time as a youth goalkeeper at Valencia, before moving on to become a young coach with Villarreal.

And he talked extensively about how his connection with Albion fans has developed, and why he has made a concerted effort to learn all aspects of the club's history.

"I think it’s necessary to learn about the clubs that we are working at," added the Albion head coach.

"To understand the past, help us to better understand the present and the future, understanding the history of the club, help us to understand our fans better and to understand what they want to watch on the pitch and how much they dedicate.

"Understanding the type of people who come to the stadium, helps you understand how much effort you have to put into the games.

“Sometimes as a coach, we take a lot of credit but I have to tell you I have amazing people working in the club behind the scenes.

“They are West Bromwich Albion supporters, they give you the history, they give you this level of knowledge about the club. The history of this club is in our club in every door you touch in the training ground.

"These people have worked a lot of years, working to make their dream to work in the club they follow but not only them, their father and grandfather and now they have the possibility to work for this club.

"For me, the people who work in West Bromwich Albion, it’s a family. They turn up for their job but at the same time, they have the love for the club, and it makes the club a very special place to work.”

Corberan expressed his love for Albion, gratitude for the supporters and how he dreams of delivering success to Albion.

He added: “I don’t know the love that the people can have to me, I know the love I have for this club and for every single fan I meet after the games, for every single one that travels to support us and when you love them, the only thing you want is to give your best to them.

"But at the same time, it’s not easy. I know what is my dream. I know where I want to put West Bromwich Albion. But not always am I going to be able to achieve what I want to achieve but I will make my best. If I don’t achieve, I will learn.

“I would love to give to them exactly what they want to achieve because where they want the club to be, I want to see too. I don’t know if I will achieve it one day or not but I can promise that I am going to put my life there to achieve it.”

The special programme can be downloaded on BBC Sounds.